


The Swing Of Things

by PlushyRobot



Series: Homebound [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Homeless Peter Parker, Orphan Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 08:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17443118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlushyRobot/pseuds/PlushyRobot
Summary: A collection of scenes that happen inA Different Kind Of Homecoming— either rewrites of scenes from a different character’s POV, or random fluff that would bog down the main story.





	The Swing Of Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CH2 :: Tony’s POV
> 
> What with being a celebrity and a superhero, Tony always has a lot on his plate. He’s used to dealing with the media, the public, rival companies, even the occasional supervillain or alien — all of whom have tried to take him down one way or another.
> 
> Regardless, those attempts on his public image or his life have given him a lot of experience. But they could never prepare him for dealing with an angry teenager.
> 
> Much less one who’s just leapt off the 93rd floor of Avengers Tower.

_“Holy shit!”_

Balanced precariously on the edge of the landing pad, Tony stares down into the city below.

Peter’s nowhere in sight.

“FRIDAY—”

“Mr. Parker’s on 3rd Avenue. I believe he’s heading for Queensboro Bridge.”

Tony wills himself to calm down. The kid's alive. He’s alive and not splattered on the windshield of a car.

“Keep tracking him and prep the Mark 47, I’m gonna try to—”

“Colonel Rhodes is on the line. He’s very insistent.” FRIDAY’s voice cuts out before he can protest.

 _“Tony.”_ Oh, he’s in trouble. “You cannot hang up on me right after saying you kidnapped some kid—”

“His name’s Peter,” he corrects.

“Oh, I’m sorry — right after saying you kidnapped _Peter_ off the streets.”

 _And now he’s right back out there,_ Tony thinks.

The first time Peter had popped up on Tony’s radar, he knew next to nothing about the kid.

He'd heard stories of an apparent costumed vigilante who'd take out small-time criminals and protect the little guy. The escapades didn’t last very long though, just a few weeks before the self-proclaimed ‘Spider-Man’ vanished from the streets about as quickly as he’d appeared, probably after realizing the stint really wasn’t worth the bruises or late nights and so he’d crawled his way back up the waterspout.

It’d been easy to forget about him. Tony had a lot on his plate, the last thing he needed to worry about was some superpowered punk. But then in the last month Spidey had come back with a vengeance — and, instead of just patrolling Queens, he’d swung his way to Manhattan.

Right onto Tony’s turf.

Yet he couldn’t even be miffed by that, because soon after internal issues of the Star Spangled variety had popped up and he was flying halfway across the world to go—

“Tony.”

Whoops. Phone call first, emotional reflection later.

“Sorry, sweetpea,” Tony oozes, “kinda preoccupied at the moment. So if you don’t mind—”

“How’d you even find him?” Rhodey interrupts, refusing to be brushed off. Tony relents.

“He’s been all over the place lately, but last night there was an explosion in Queens. Kid nearly blew himself up fighting some bank robbers with those alien hybrid weapons,” and Tony ignores the incredulous noise Rhodey makes at that. “Thought I’d take it upon myself to give him a little talk, hero to hero. Convince him to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”

“And somehow that led to you literally sweeping him off his feet and taking him out to — what did you call it — dunch?” Tony can hear the smug-ass smile in Rhodey’s tone.

He ignores the teasing jab. “Yes. Yes, I took the _homeless orphan_ out to dunch after nearly making him _cry.”_

Tony sighs at the memory, turning away from the edge of the balcony to head toward his approaching armor.

At Rhodey’s judging silence he continues. “I may have, ah, lost my temper — teenagers, Rhodes — and so I kinda struck low, told the kid to think about his family, his aunt, and…” He rubs his forehead. “Turns out she died. Three weeks ago. FRI made sure to let me know _after_ I opened my big mouth.”

He has to pause on the stairs then, his eyes squeezing shut as he remembers the way Peter had visibly recoiled at the mention of his aunt, like Tony had hit him. His voice is quiet when he speaks up again.

“Kid’s been living on the streets this entire time.”

The silence that falls between them now is heavier, understanding.

Rhodes lets out a long, steady breath that helps ground them both. “And so, in true Tony Stark fashion, you leapt before looking.” Tony can visualize the fond smile on his friend’s face, the way he’s most likely shaking his head. “Decided to do your usual flash and bang performance, keep him distracted, fed, happy. And then at the worst possible moment you realized you had no idea what you were doing?”

“You know me so well, honeybunch.” Tony comes back to himself then and quickly scales the rest of the stairs to the unfolded armor FRIDAY has ready and waiting — the UI’s way of telling him to get a move on.

“The kid’s sharp like you wouldn’t believe.” Tony doesn’t bother to mask his fondness when he picks up the conversation once the helmet is on, FRIDAY silently feeding him information on Peter’s whereabouts through the HUD. “You should see his mixture for his webbing. It’s nylon-based — how genius is that? — with a tensile strength of a hundred-twenty pounds per square millimeter and the ability to—”

Rhodes clears his throat, the way he does when Tony starts to gush.

But he can’t stop.

His mind goes back to the workshop when Peter had bashfully handed over his web-shooter so Tony could get a closer look. It’d been impressive, for being built by a teenager out of materials he’d scrounged up while dumpster diving.

“And those web-shooters. Made them himself out of some junk and old garbage in his bedroom.”

“Hmmm, sounds very familiar.” It’s like his best friend can read his mind. “So, what exactly happened?”

Oh, right. Tony had hung up on him when everything went to shit.

“Well, he may have overheard us while we were talking and, really, I should have thought about how good his hearing is. That’s something you’d think I’d be used to, after living with a couple of spies and a super-soldier for several years—” Tony cuts himself off when Rhodey clips out his name and gets back on track, “—and he may have assumed the worst? There was some yelling, you know how teenagers can be, and then he ranoutonmybalconyandjumpedoff.” The words roll off Tony’s tongue in a jumbled heap, which may or may not have been on purpose.

“He _what?!”_

And of course Rhodey’s able to catch every word. It’s a skill both he and Pepper share, which was most likely learned out of necessity after knowing him for so long.

“He’s fine! He’s fine — spider-powers, remember?” Tony quickly reassures. “He’s making good time across the bridge, by the way. FRI’s been tracking him and I really should be—”

“Tony, please take a moment to _think_ this time before you go after him.” His friend’s voice is suddenly calm and collected and it’s enough to stop Tony in his tracks.

He waits with bated breath — for his friend to reprimand him, yell at him, tell him to lay off and let the kid go, maybe call the authorities which Tony probably should have done from the beginning—

 _“I don’t need you or some social worker to pretend like they_ care.”

Okay, so maybe not the authorities.

But Tony can’t exactly chase Peter down and force him to stay in the Tower against his will (Lord knows that hadn’t worked out well the last time he’d tried it). He also can’t just let him go back to the streets, either, even with an eighty-five dollar steak in his stomach and a couple-thousand dollar pair of web-shooters on his wrists.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna say this,” Rhodey’s words break Tony out of his reverie, “but I think you should let Peter stay with you.”

“Huh?” he says eloquently.

“Listen, Peter isn’t just some random kid,” and isn’t that exactly what Tony’s been trying to say? “If he was, I’d tell you to do what any person would normally do in this situation. But you don’t do normal, and I don’t think that’s what’s best for him right now.”

“Okay,” Tony drags out the word in his puzzlement, “I know I’m a genius but I’m gonna need you to explain how you came to this conclusion.”

Rhodey sighs. “He doesn’t want to go into the system. I mean, he just jumped off a thousand-foot building to escape that possibility. Forcing him to be around strangers, especially those who don’t know about his abilities, could be dangerous — for them and for him.”

It’s this point that _does_ get Tony to really think.

Peter’s got powers. Strength, speed, the works; not to mention a strong sense of justice, if the crime-fighting is anything to go by. The thought of making a kid like Peter live with people who have no idea how to deal with an emotional, enhanced teen could end badly in so many ways (and most of the scenarios that jump through Tony’s head end up with Peter being the one hurt).

Tony is — and this is him being extremely modest — an average human being. But one thing he has over any foster family is experience in the super-powered-humans-and-androids/aliens department. And even if only half of that pertains to Peter, it’s still a much more impressive resume.

Rhodey’s voice, once again, brings him back to attention. “Three weeks really isn’t a long time, Tones. His aunt’s death is still fresh; some stability would be good in his life. I think staying with you, at least for a while, would be better than juggling him between places and people. Besides,” and there's that smile Tony can hear, “you kind of have a habit with taking in strays.”

“Well, you’re not wrong about that.” Tony grins at his friend’s answering laugh.

“What about you, though?”

The question catches Tony by surprise as he finally takes off from the Tower, and he lets FRIDAY run the flight path for a moment.

Even with the experience, is it a good idea for _Tony Stark_ to take in an emotional, enhanced teen? He’s never thought about kids in his life. He’s got his company, his ‘bots, and that’s always been more than enough to keep him busy. Throw in the Avengers, or at least what’s left, and the thought of having some random teenager living in his Tower seems absolutely ludicrous and like a terrible, impulsive life decision for all parties involved.

_But he isn’t just some random teenager._

Once again, Tony thinks back to earlier in the day, to when Peter’s curiosity had finally gotten the best of him. He’d let down his walls and started asking Tony questions about the suit — and some of them had really taken Tony by surprise with their complexity.

Then there was the workshop, and Tony thinks _that’s the real Peter_ — all energy and excitement and endless optimism. It’d been like watching a puppy run around the dog park for the first time. When they’d worked on his new web-shooters, Peter had easily caught up with Tony halfway through the inventor’s explanations for some modification. But he didn’t stop there: he’d dragged the holo over, given it a once over, and then he’d gone ahead and finished it up all on his own.

Peter’s _smart_ , and that’s something Tony can’t deny. But not only that, Peter’s _good._

And that’s something Tony can’t ignore.

In just under a minute he’s flying over the river, using the suit’s HUD to scan the bridge and visually search for the kid. He hasn’t popped back up on anymore street cams on the Manhattan or Long Island side, so Tony knows he’s nearby.

When he finally answers, Tony’s thankful for just how endlessly patient his friend is sometimes. “I think I’ve got a moody teenager to talk to and put to bed — it’s way past his curfew.”

_“Tony—”_

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kidnap him this time. I’ll be sure to say it straight, even _ask_ him if he wants to go before carting him off. Thanks for the pep talk, snookums.”

There’s a breath of silence, and then, “You know you’ll have to talk to Pepper about him—”

“End call!”


End file.
